Hydroseeding is a process for planting seeds of grass or plants on a soil surface where a mixing tank, pump and nozzle are used to spray a slurry mixture of water, seed, mulch and a bio degradable adhesive type binder on the soil surface. The binder and mulch retain moisture, resist soil erosion and physically restrain the seeds from moving during germination and root growth. The binder and mulch eventually decay while the seed grows into rooted plants.
Conventional hydroseeders are often mounted to vehicles and include a mixing tank with a platform on the top surface of the tank. The platform provides the operator with access to a hatch into which water, bags of dry seed, mulch and binder are loaded into the tank. Tanks include paddle mixers or impellers to mix the ingredients into a slurry that is drawn from the tank through a pump, a hose and a spray nozzle.
The tank top platform is used by the operator as an elevated platform from which to hold the hose and nozzle at a height during spraying. The elevated height allows the operator to observe the spray operation but involves the risk of slipping and falling from a significant height. The platform may be slippery due to overspray of the liquid slurry, due to wind, rain and snow, and due to water and particulate matter spillage during loading of the tank.
The top platform is often used for storing the dry bags of seed, mulch and binder during transport to the site. Spillage of dry particulate material from the bags creates a slip and fall danger for the operator at an elevated height. Spillage of seeds, mulch and binder creates waste and increases cost.
Therefore the conventional hydroseeder equipment imposes significant safety risks to the operator including falls from a height, slipping on a wet platform surface, slipping on dry spilled particulate matter on the platform surface, and the risk of falling from the ladder used to access the elevated platform.
If the spray operator on the elevated platform chooses to spray while a driver moves the vehicle, an extremely unsafe condition arises, which likely violates various worker safety regulations but increases the speed of the spray operation. The spray operator may slip on the platform surface during vehicle movement. The spray operator may be knocked off balance by the movement of the vehicle or by the force of the pressurized liquid whipping the hose and nozzle. If a fall occurs, the driver may not notice because of limited visibility and because of the noise created by the pump and vehicle engine. Therefore worker training and supervision are necessary to avoid injuries and violations of worker safety regulations. However due to the nature of the hydroseeding work, operators may be working alone or in unpopulated areas where close supervision is impractical.
Material handling at a height involves risk of injury to the workers since bags of dry material are lifted to the elevated platform using forklifts or other equipment with imperfect visibility, and the bags are manually carried to the access hatch during loading of the mixing tank.
Conventional hydroseeder equipment with an elevated platform also requires inefficient and time consuming material handling of bags of dry particulate matter. The bags are lifted to the level of the elevated platform and the operator must work at a height to either store the bags on the platform during transport or immediately load the bagged material into the access hatch of the mixing tank. In any case the operator must climb a ladder to the elevated platform, work at an elevated height to handle the bags of materials and then climb down the ladder from the platform to drive in the vehicle, all of which consumes time and involves safety risk due to the platform height.
Features that distinguish the present invention from the background art will be apparent from review of the disclosure, drawings and description of the invention presented below.